House vent

I was wondering what you guys think of this. As the Rocket Mass Heater burns it needs air, this air generally comes in through the doors and windows, i.e. draft, since air is going to come in no matter what and we actually need the air why not use it. Below is attached a rough drawing of a 2" pipe coming from the outside, the air is heated as it passes by the bell and exits the pipe over the bells top. The advantages are that the air coming in to feed the mass heater is now hot rather than cooling down the other areas, it should increase warm air circulation and might even create a positive pressure inside.

Neil; If your house is super tight, highly insulated, than adding a 2" air inlet could help. If your house is older construction than you will have plenty of fresh air already warmed available... no need to add extra.

Thomas the thing is the air is not warm, it comes in and gets warm from the heat radiated from the mass heater which means it is cooling the air that you warmed. I was saying why not heat it up before it gets in the house and use it to move the warm air around at the same time.

If your house is not so tight that you have to open a window to get enough combustion air/draft, then will adding a fresh air supply near the stove actually reduce the amount that comes in from existing sources? Or will it just add another source of cold air?

Glenn that is the question I should be asking isn't it? But it seems to me that with the intake pipe being heated it would draw primarily from that....possibly decreasing the draft from other sources...

Neil

Just check this, posted by Shilo few days back!

http://www.woodheat.org/the-outdoor-air-myth-exposed.html

Satamax, great find thanks that answers my questions quit well.